I was on some entrepreneurial forums this morning reading over some concerns that people have as they maintain a full-time “job” while startin’ up a startup on the side. Most of them spoke to sleep (or lack thereof), commitment and effort they are able to give their day job, and enough focus and energy for their venture.

As I was perusing the comments and wondering what my experience offered by way of an answer I overheard Rich telling Shanna a story about his kids. Rich has always encouraged his children to become business minded. As a response to their Dad’s success with websites Rich’s sons started 2tieatie.com with the intent to learn how to generate a profitable website. The profits will go to a couple of places, mainly their college funds and their family’s humanitarian effort in Nepal. As they reviewed their traffic this weekend they were a bit disappointed by the results. When Rich asked them what to do his eleven year old said,

“Let’s growl at it!”

Well, in Christiansen language “growling at it” means buckling down, gritting your teeth, and MAKING something happen. And that’s what they did. They had a meeting to discuss strategy. Rich’s sons came up with things that Rich would never had thought of, include chain emails and youtube and every other internet related option at a teenagers disposal. The traffic has more than doubled.

So many people are right on the cusp of starting their own business or finally being free from their corporate ties- but how do you make sure that your plans come to fruition? Well- growl at it! There are solutions! One post I read said that a man moved closer to work, saving him about 3 hours every day. Now that might not seem like a lot to you- but when you work a 9-5 and then go home to your venture to find a full inbox- 3 extra hours is looking pretty good.

Look at the resources available to you- maybe it really is as simple as going viral on the internet. Maybe you need to schedule a lunch with a solid contact. Maybe you just need to put in a little more time. There are more opportunities waiting for you than you realize. You just need to hunker down and give it a good growl.

So! We’ve had a bit of hiatus here.  I’ve spent the past few weeks in the process of last-minute wedding preparations, actually getting married, and then a trip back home to my side of the world with my new husband.  As I walked back into the office yesterday, it felt like 2 days had gone by.  Really, it was more like 20.

When I left, we had just finished up with our first, big goal.  10 chapters of the book down, about the same in front of us.  Bootstrap Business is coming along.  Soon we’ll finish some planned updates to this site, including more information on the upcoming book.  You can look forward to some sneak peaks and also an opportunity to pre-order your copy!  Our main goal with bootstrapbusiness.org is to allow entrepreneurs to talk to each other.  Entering entrepreneurship on your own can be terrifying.  What if you had someone, or a group of “someones,” available to talk to and discuss difference choices with?  If you’ve had a lot of entrepreneurial experience, we’re sure you’ve got a lot to offer.  Conversation is key in entrepreneurship.  You need to ask good questions and listen to experienced answers.  Working here for the past few months, I’ve learned a lot about small businesses and entrepreneurship.  This blog, so far, has been my own discovery process as I work through the principles in the book and watch how this business grows and develops.  Our hope is that you will participate!  Ask questions, seek answers.  See what you can glean from the entrepreneurs around you.  It doesn’t matter if you are completely new to entrepreneurship or if you’ve been doing it forever- sometimes a fresh angle on something makes a big difference.

Today (once again) we had a bunch of bright, talented engineers in the office.  They have the skill set and the drive, but what they don’t have is business experience.   They let an amazing opportunity pass them by, and hardly realized what they had lost!  We all go through this as we begin our own businesses.  However, with more experienced people on your side, you can minimize the loss and the wasted time, and make sure your venture will make it.

What do you have to contribute?  Consider this a formal invitation to make this blog your own sounding board- to comment and leave your own ideas and questions.  Make sure to include links from your site so we know where you are coming from, and how we can get in touch with you!

For the past couple months at Everest Web, we’ve been looking for engineers and designers to add to our team.  Recently, we also put the word out that we’ll be hiring an  administrative assistant.  With the business expanding and more and more work to be done- there should be a few more people in this office than I’ve been accustomed to.  It’s been interesting to watch the prep work.

A lot of care and consideration has been taken to find the right spot for everyone.  We have a suite with 4 offices, two rather large, and two private, in addition to the admin desk up front.  As long as I have been here, Rich and Ron have huddled up in what they call the “War Room,” a room all the way in the back with extensive white board space and a great view.  That’s where all of the heavy lifting is done.  I usually sit sentinel up front- taking care of the basic admin tasks while working on the book.  The other three offices have mostly been empty, aside from a few people making use of them for different projects every so often.  I was surprised when Rich and Ron said that they’d be moving out, and letting the engineers  take the big room in the back.  They’ll split up and go into the empty offices- and when the admin is hired I’ll probably move into another of the large offices, perhaps on my own for awhile- until more writers or engineers are added to the team.

Why, you may ask, is this interesting to me?  I watched as Rich and Ron walked the office and talked over the possibilities.  The office up front is beautiful, with an amazing view- but it’s easy to get distracted with people walking in and out all the time.  Also, with as much work as Rich and Ron do together, I thought it would be a pain to be in separate rooms.  But here’s the thing: do you want to be in a position where you have to resist distraction yourself, or do you want your team of engineers to have to deal with it?  Do you want easy communication with your partner, or would you like your engineers to be able to collaborate and communicate quickly and efficiently?  Although it may be more comfortable to make people work around you (as a business owner, you certainly have the ability to make that happen), it may be more effective to work around them.  Rich always says that we have to keep the engineering team happy, well fed, and far away from other people.  So, they get the War Room, far from the front door and close to the snacks- and Rich and Ron will make a change.

One of the big principles that I’ve learned in the last few months is that finding success in entrepreneurship isn’t always about simply achieving a goal, or ending up where you thought you would.  Actually, success can even include accomplishing things you previously passed over or never even had in mind.  As an example, here’s a little update as to what’s happening around the office. Everest Web has experienced a growth spurt!  Rich and Ron are starting work on new exciting contracts (I won’t say who, but I guarantee you’ve said their names a few times yourself!), and  every day we seem to have a handful of new opportunities to consider.  When they initially started this venture, they choose between three ideas. First, high purpose link building, second, outsourcing software engineers, and third, SEO.  After running the different ventures through the Porter Model, SEO came out on bottom.  However, it was chosen as the absolute focus of the summer because it was a) quick to cash and b) a good use of current contacts. After 4 months, the company is  establishing incredibly sound footholds.  More than that, the resources and contacts from the SEO work are making it possible for Rich and Ron to pursue the other two ideas, as well! So, after thorough analysis, they went with the third best option, and find that options one and two are knocking at the door, asking to be let in!

We just finished reviewing and editing “Juice to the Light Bulb,” a chapter in the book Bootstrap Business. It provides six ways to get ideas flowing with regard to your venture, whether you’re starting from scratch or just trying to keep the momentum up. A principle from the chapter is entitled, “How Did I Get Here?”  In entrepreneurship (or, um, life!) you have to make choices.  Making the correct choice can lead to freedom and the ability to make MORE choices.  An incorrect choice will lead to stagnancy and imprisonment.  Manuvering through choices on your own can be hard, which is why (I presume) I often find Rich and Ron huddled in front of a whiteboard, prioritizing and brainstorming, and why so many entrepreneurs find their way into this office asking for “just a minute” to ask “just one question.”  It happened just the other day.  Someone came by to deliver some paperwork, but before he left wanted to ask Rich a question about handling taxes.  One of the strongest tools an entrepreneur can have is another entrepreneur.  Although both Rich and Ron know and have lived the principles they espouse in their book, it’s nice to have someone else around to make sure you actually have things in perspective, and that your choices reflect past experience and personal beliefs.  This is one of the reasons why we set up this website and continue to develop it, to provide interaction between different people at different stages of their ventures.  It’d be nice if life were cut and dry, and all decisions were final, and achieving one final goal meant total success.  But it doesn’t!  And what fun would that be anyway?

For the holiday yesterday my family and I hiked up to Timpanogos Cave, at about 6,700 feet in elevation.  Although it’s probably just a “baby” hike to anyone who has spent time in the Himalayas or climbing the worlds major peaks, it was quite a climb for a girl born and raised at sea level.  We started out, paced ourself well, and ended up getting about 3/4 of the way up the mountain in about half an hour.  We took a rest to catch our breath and get some water, and when I stood up to get going again, I was hit with an incredible wave of dizziness.  There was an unpleasant, popping-type tension in my ears, and although I knew people were talking to me,  I couldn’t hear what they were saying.  We were so close to the top! For a second I thought that I could just tough it out.  I decided to ignore the frustrating things happening with my body and push forward. I gave it a try, but before I even got on my feet I knew it just wasn’t going to happen.  I gave in, and decided to take a break.  I drank some water and waited until I wasn’t feeling so dizzy before we started up again.  After each steep climb I took a break for a second, just breathing deeply and taking some pictures.  Turns out, we got to the top in plenty of time to meet our tour group at the cave.

As I’ve worked on Bootstrap Business with Rich and Ron, I’ve gone through many passages drawing parallels between hiking and building businesses.  As I was sitting on Mount Timp yesterday, I got it.  I felt pressure to get up the mountain as fast as I could.  I didn’t know how high it was or what it would take.  I didn’t have a clue as to what my body could handle or what it needed as it got used to the climbing altitude.  All I knew what that I had a goal: to get to the cave.  I found that it was easy for my body to feel “tricked” while climbing.  I didn’t feel thirsty or sweaty, and there was a nice breeze in the Canyon that kept us cool.  As a result, I didn’t take care of myself the way I needed to, and almost risked having to come back down the mountain having not seen the cave.  (In all fairness, my brother graciously offered to drag me up the rest of the way by my boots if necessary.  Thanks bro.)

In a chapter entitled, Climb High, Sleep Low, Rich talks about his time hiking in Nepal with his family.  He learned that in climbing the worlds highest peaks, you can’t gain over a thousand feet of altitude a day.  If you sleep more than a thousand feet higher than you did the night before, you risk some serious damage to your brain and body.  Although the big goal of the expedition is to get to the top, the most important aspect of any climb is the pacing.

Right now Everest Web is expanding.  We’re hearing a lot of names flowing through the office that are rather exciting.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the big goal and rush things that cannot be rushed.  As humans we get an idea in our head and want to have the details worked out and finalized: now!  Turns out, things are rarely that cut and dry.  There are too many variables, both in terms of our own ability to do the work and the customers’ willingness to commit.  In the end, if we push ourselves or our customers too hard, we’ll either burn ourselves out with the work or scare the customer off with our unmasked enthusiasm.  Thus, we need a few tips to keep the workload and our own eagerness under control. Here are some tips from the upcoming book.

- Set rewards along the way, this will satisfy your need for immediate gratification and keep you working long term.

- Set limits and bounds to the amount of time you spend at work.   Communicate with the people in your life the needs of the business, so that when the time for a big push comes, they will understand your need to work more.

- Put levels of escalation in place.  Make sure your phone system is set up in a professional way, even going through an admin or a secretary if possible.  You cannot always be available.  This places a buffer between you and the client, and makes sure that you’re not reacting too quickly.

-  Write everything out in a place where you can see it.  Whether you use a whiteboard or another planning tool- being able to see upcoming tasks, accounts receivable, and critical appointments will help your pacing.  Set a schedule and stick to it.  Don’t rush, don’t fall behind; keep an even pace.

-  Use someone as a sounding board.  We can’t always see what’s wrong with a situation.  When I was on the mountain, I didn’t feel hot or thirsty, but I was.  Someone had to tell me what to do to get myself out of my predicament.  It may seem simple, and although you may be quite capable, it is sometimes hard to see the easiest solutions.  Get a dialog in place with partners or co-workers, family and friends to keep things under control.

As a side note, I guess all I have left to do to before I REALLY fit in around the office is take up golfing.  We’ll see how that goes.